2020/21

At Iceland we hate the

idea of wasting food
Whether that’s in our supply chain, our stores, or our customers’
homes. For 50 years we have been the UK’s leading frozen food
specialist, championing great quality frozen food as a way to help
people save money, maintain a tasty and balanced diet, and reduce
food waste.
2020 was a challenging year for everyone. Normally bustling high streets became empty
spaces. The pandemic brought about changes in shopping patterns, with panic buying, a
huge shift to online ordering, and a move away from ‘top-up’ shopping. These changes made
forecasting demand very difficult and meant that some of the ways in which we avoid food
waste, like in-store price reductions, became less effective because there were fewer people
in our stores. This resulted in an increase in the amount of food waste produced, up by 1,603
tonnes against 2019/20 – a difference of 10.5%.

The impact of Covid in terms of surplus food presented a particular challenge as Iceland stores
do not generate enough waste to support a local redistribution network. We now have ambitious
plans to redistribute surplus food in new ways and our aim for 2021/22 is to redistribute one
million meals, through existing and new food waste projects.

our aim for

2021/22 is to redistribute
one million meals
Our targets
Iceland Food Waste Report

We don’t send any unsold (surplus) food to landfill.

We put it to good use in the community, offer it free of
charge to our store colleagues, convert it into animal
feed, or as a last resort have it processed into energy
through anaerobic digestion.

We are proud signatories to the Courtauld Commitment 2030, which

has brought together organisations across the food industry to
reduce the environmental impact of food and drink, with the shared
target of reducing the UK’s food and drink waste by 50% by 2030.

Iceland is also a signatory to the WRAP/IGD Food Waste Roadmap, and

50%
we signed the Government’s ‘Step Up To The Plate’ pledge in May 2019. reduction
In line with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal SDG 12.3, we have
set ourselves a target to achieve a 50% reduction of food waste in our
of food waste
own operations by 2030, with 2017/18 as our baseline year. in our own
operations
by 2030

How we measure food waste

This report measures food waste in our UK
stores and depots, for the full Iceland financial
year 2020/21 (28th March 2020 to 26th March
2021 inclusive).

The calculations cover operations in all Iceland

and The Food Warehouse stores and depots in
the UK. The report does not measure any food
waste generated by our suppliers. More details on
our methodology can be found in the appendix.
Our Progress
In 2020/21, we sold 1,501,925
tonnes of food to customers.
We sent 9,555 tonnes of food
waste for anaerobic digestion.
This equates to 0.63% of the
total weight of products sold
by Iceland. This is a 19.3%
reduction against our baseline
of 2017/18.
This represents an increase in surplus food
from 0.57% of sales in the previous year, due
to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our
store operations. It represents an increase in
food waste of 10.5%.
Our specialism in frozen food, small store size and
our popular price reduction policies mean we have
relatively small amounts of surplus food available at
the end of each day in stores. This means at a store
level we are not a big enough producer of food waste
to put in place a national food redistribution network
like those operated by larger supermarkets.
1
We incorrectly reported 23% last year by using FY18/19 figures instead of our
baseline of FY17/18
As a result of the Covid-19 pandemic we saw an
increase in the production of food waste. Our sales
increased significantly during this period, alongside
a huge change in shopping patterns leading to a
27% reduction in the number of customers coming
to store, where they usually take advantage of price
reductions on products nearing their end of shelf life.
These factors combined to result in an absolute
20.1% increase in food waste volume during the
Covid-19 pandemic.
However, despite these challenges we have still
been able to achieve a 19.3% reduction in food
waste measured against sales since the baseline
of 2017/18.
Many of our stores donated surplus food to good
causes during the pandemic but the amounts were
not recorded formally and do not appear in our
reported data.
 Iceland Food Waste Report

Iceland’s food waste by category 2020/21 In 2017/18, we recorded 10,354 tonnes of food
9,555 tonnes of food waste in our operations, equivalent to 0.78% of the
waste was sent for total food sold in that year. Our 2020/21 data shows
Frozen Meat and Poultry Depot that we have achieved a 19.3% reduction in food
4% 1% anaerobic digestion waste in three years.2
Fresh
30%
Produce
30% 263.9 tonnes of surplus food
was redistributed to people Iceland’s Food Waste Levels by Year (in tonnes)
in need, representing
624,389 meals 12,000

10,000 10,354
Tonnes 9,775 9,555
1,274.9 tonnes of surplus 8,000 Tonnes Tonnes
Frozen bread was converted into 7,952
6% Tonnes
animal feed 6,000

Grocery by SugaRich, the UK leader in 4,000

Chilled 9% reprocessing surplus food products
20% 2,000

0
105 tonnes of surplus food 2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21
was redistributed to store
colleagues through our Iceland’s Food Waste Levels by Year (% of sales)
Hello Taste,
Goodbye Waste 0.9

scheme representing 0.8

0.7
233,333 meals 0.6
0.78 %
of sales 0.73 %

Percentage of sales
of sales 0.63 %
0.5
0.57 % of sales
0.4 of sales
0.3
0.2
0.1
2
Our baseline year of 2017/18 does not include waste from our depots. We improved our reporting in 2018/19 to include food waste from our depots. 0
2017/18 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21
How we’re taking action
to reduce food waste...
The Power of Frozen
Our focus on frozen food helps to cut waste As Iceland specialises in frozen foods, the shelf life
throughout the supply chain, in stores, and in of most of our products is to up to two years. We
customers’ homes. continue to work with suppliers across our supply
chain to develop new packaging, transportation
As well as saving customers money, research by
and storage approaches to keep products safer
Manchester Metropolitan University found that
and fresher for longer. To avoid waste, we are also
British families could reduce food waste by nearly
improving our forecasting and ordering system.
half (47.5%) by eating frozen food.3 We continue to
use these insights to inform our ongoing marketing
and buying strategies to help our customers to plan,
prepare and store food effectively. 3
The Food Centre, Manchester Metropolitan University. March 2018.
https://www2.mmu.ac.uk/news-and-events/news/story/7421/

British families
Reduced… still fresh
could reduce food
We apply a 50 per cent discount on fresh, chilled
waste by nearly half

(47.5%)
and bakery goods on their ‘last day of life’. This
includes products such as milk, bread, eggs and
fresh fruit and vegetables, giving our customers
more choice when doing their top-up shops.

by eating frozen food

 Iceland suppliers Supplier surplus stock redistributed to Company Shop Iceland surplus stock redistributed from depot to Community Shop
begin redistributing
surplus products
direct to company
shop 227 182 134 66 150 252
tonnes tonnes tonnes tonnes tonnes tonnes

or or or or or or

540,770 404,444 297,777 150,581 356,354 598,674

meals meals meals meals meals meals

2014 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21 2018/19 2019/20 2020/21

Decreasing food surplus by Iceland suppliers Increasing Iceland food donations

Community Shop
We donate all surplus food from our depots. We work with our suppliers to help them
redistribute surplus food from our depots to Company Shop. We also donate all of
Iceland’s surplus own label food from our depots to social enterprise Community
Shop, part of the Company Shop Group.

Community Shop operates in some of the most deprived areas of the UK and brings
together great value surplus food and personal development to build stronger individuals
and more confident communities. In 2020/21, we donated 252 tonnes of surplus food to
Community Shop, the equivalent of 598,674 meals. For the third year running, Iceland
also sponsored Community Shop’s Christmas Lunch in December 2020. Due to Covid-19
it was run differently this year, with cook-along Christmas dinner kits being donated,
complete with step-by-step video instructions to allow everyone to enjoy a Christmas dinner.
“We’ve worked in partnership with Iceland for several years, helping them and their
suppliers to redistribute their surplus stock. Iceland has also been a key supporter
of Community Shop over the last few years, helping to make Christmas a special and
enjoyable time for our members. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we weren’t able to
offer our usual Christmas dinners in the Community Kitchen this year but, thanks to the
amazing donations from Iceland, our members were able to make their own Christmas
dinner at home, with some top tips and video guides from Iceland’s head chef. For
some of our members this was the first time they had cooked their own Christmas
dinner, learning new skills and creating lasting memories for them and their families.
Thank you to everyone at Iceland for making this possible.”
John Marren,
Founder and Chairman, Community Shop
 105 or 233,333
meals
tonnes

2020/21

Hello Taste, Goodbye Waste

Following a successful trial in 2019, we rolled out the Hello Taste,
Goodbye Waste scheme to all stores in October 2020.

The scheme allows store colleagues to take home, free of charge, surplus food
(food reaching its best before or use by date) at store closing time each day. 105
tonnes of surplus food, equivalent to 233,333 meals was redirected through this
scheme between October 2020 and March 2021, although not all stores measured
distribution. This scheme has not been reported on formally this year; however,
going forward, all stores have been equipped to monitor take-up to enable
accurate reporting in 2021/22.
“Hello Taste, Goodbye Waste is a great idea and works very well in our store,
it reduces food waste drastically at the end of the day. Surplus food is still
perfectly good to eat so there is no need for it to be wasted, especially when
the staff are more than happy to take home and use.”
Helen Shaw,
General Assistant, Hyndburn Food Warehouse

Partnering with Business in the Community
We donated more than 40 surplus chest freezers to food banks and
community groups providing emergency food supplies to people
affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. Through BiTC’s National Business
Response Network, Iceland worked with Relief Aid Logistics and Brakes
Foodservice, who delivered many of the freezers to food banks up and
down the country.
These were stocked with Iceland food on delivery, but also gave the
recipients extra capacity to use surplus food donations and put them to
good use in the community.
40 surplus chest freezers
donated to foodbanks and
community groups providing
emergency food supplies to people
affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Iceland Food Waste Report
10.8 or 25,715
meals
tonnes
2020/21
The Bread and Butter Thing
For the second year running, we partnered with The Bread and
Butter Thing (TBBT) to redistribute surplus food from our online
pick centre in Hyde, Greater Manchester.
The pick centre is not open to the public, and as online orders
require longer ‘use by’ dates, this generates higher levels of surplus
food than our standard stores. The Bread and Butter Thing is a
registered charity that redistributes surplus food to families in need in
Greater Manchester.
“Iceland is one of our most valued food partners. 2020 was
a challenging year for everyone yet Iceland’s commitment
to TBBT increased – supplying an enormous 10.8 tonnes of
food, representing 25,715 meals - which helped to support our
expansion across the north of England, enabling our 14,000
members to access quality, affordable food to feed their families.
Iceland also donated vital financial support to enable TBBT to
fund Free School Meal provision during the October half term,
supporting low-income families who were additionally struggling
with the impacts of the pandemic. Our sincere thanks to Iceland
for really helping us make a difference this year.”
Mark Game,
CEO, The Bread and Butter Thing
Future plans
Iceland Food Waste Report

We aim to donate surplus food equivalent to one

million meals to our communities during 2021/22.
We are always looking for ways to further reduce
food surplus, such as improving existing schemes,
forming new partnerships and engaging in new
business models to reduce food waste.

FOLDOL
(Free on last day of life)
Plans are underway to trial a new approach
to our online delivery date policy.
Currently items delivered have a shelf life of at
least two days. To reduce waste, we are going to
trial giving products to customers free of charge
on their last day of shelf life, when longer life
products are unavailable. This trial is expected
to go live for 14 stores in summer 2021.
Fridgeable
Fridgeable will launch in July 2021, initially
on 15 products. This initiative aims to
Food Labelling demonstrate to customers that they do not
need to put frozen produce in the freezer.
In line with WRAP guidance, we will also be
reviewing and amending our food labelling Fridgeable storage information explains to
dates and home storage guidance to reduce customers which frozen food products can be put
unnecessary food waste for customers. in the fridge and how long they can be kept there.
Our aim is to make frozen food more accessible to
This includes moving away from ‘display
more people as we know that choosing frozen food
until’ food labelling on more products,
helps families save money and reduce food waste.
as well as increased flexibility in freezing
and storage guidance.
 Iceland Food Waste Report

in 2020/21
Shrub Hub
For 2021/22 Iceland have
partnered with Shrub Hub Coop
to redistribute food surplus from
our Portobello Road dark store. we launched our new scheme to
Shrub Hub Co-op is a community
led organisation based in
give surplus food to colleagues
Edinburgh who redistribute food
through their Food Sharing Hub
on its last day of shelf life.
and café.
Hello Taste,
Goodbye Waste
In 2020/21 we launched our
new scheme to give surplus
food to colleagues on its last
day of shelf life.
Although the launch of Hello
Taste, Goodbye Waste was
welcomed by store colleagues,
not all stores measured
distribution. Going forward, all
stores have been equipped
to monitor take-up to enable
accurate reporting in 2021/22.
Appendix

Methodology Our stores

We use a bottom up approach; all store-level waste products are scanned out as
Our food waste strategy and reporting individual units on our internal systems. We then use an average unit weight by category
follow best practice outlined in The Food (calculated via our Supply Chain database) and multiply together to deduce a total waste
Waste Reduction Roadmap developed by figure, measured in tonnes. Our sales data is generated in the same way with units sold
multiplied by the average category weight. The weight of any surplus food is measured by
IGD and WRAP. third-party sources (detailed below). We use this combined external data to calculate our actual
‘food waste’ by subtracting it from the food waste tonnage measured by our internal systems.
The methodologies outlined below have been used to
calculate the total tonnes of food waste in all UK Iceland
and The Food Warehouse stores and depots, for the full
Iceland financial year 2020/21 (28th March 2020 to 26th Our depots
March 2021 inclusive).
We record the units wasted and then multiply this by an actual case weight from our
The calculation only covers Iceland operations. The calculations Supply Chain database.
do not cover any waste generated by our suppliers, by Iceland
Manufacturing Ltd, or at Iceland’s head office.
Iceland’s food waste is sent for anaerobic digestion only;
we do not send any food waste to landfill.
Animal Feed
Data is taken directly from SugaRich’s reporting spreadsheet. Information on tonnage and
Our definition of ‘food waste’ excludes any material that is
number of loads is based on the weight of container when entering their processing site.
redistributed by third parties for human consumption or sent
to produce animal feed. Any food that is repurposed for human
or animal consumption is defined as ‘surplus food’.
All non-food items are removed from our waste data. Community Shop
Packaging waste is also excluded.
Data is provided by Company Shop Group who calculate weight data by item on their
internal system.

0% The Bread and Butter Thing

Data is provided by The Bread and Butter Thing who weigh products on receipt.
of Iceland food
waste goes
to landfill
Food Waste 2020/21
www.sustainability.iceland.co.uk